Duplex Update

With May in full swing, I thought I'd take a break and give an update on our duplex. I think the last time we talked explicitly about it was back in November when we shared a video us of installing a Water Back Flow Prevention Valve. We're 6 months later and much has happened.

Kitchen Remodel
If you subscribe to my YouTube channel, you've probably noticed I've discovered Qik. The video quality isn't great (because I only have the iPhone 3G, I hear the 3GS is much better), but it's so easy to capture and upload video with a device already in my pocket, I can't help but use it frequently. Here's a video we made of the final product. It's my brother giving a quick tour of what we did.





As described in the video, here's what we did for the kitchen remodel:

• Created a dinning area by replacing carpet with bambo lamenent flooring.
• Added a dish washer
• Added a garbage disposal
• Added a Microwave shelf
• Doubled the counter-top space
• Added more storage for larger pots and pans

It was a wirlwind project that took 3 [long] days. My dad brother and sister drove up Thursday, we worked Friday, Saturday & Sunday, and they drove back home on Monday. Jessi did paint and replaced all the cabinet hardware the following day just to finish it up.

New Tenants
We had already moved over to the other side (remember the garage?), and so once that project was done it was time to put it on the market. We ended up finding an excellent family who were able to move in right away. I think it's been a good match. With the weather turning nice, it's been fun to watch their two sons playing in the font and back yard.

New Toys
Speaking of nice weather, Jessi and I have gotten two new toys. The first is a lawn mower and the second is a weed hacker to get the places the lawn mower misses. The following Qik video shows off the lawn mower.




You can't see it in the video, but by the time we bought the mower our grass was out of control. In some places the grass was as high as my knees! As you can imagine, it took a while to cut the grass our first time round. In this next video of our weed hacker, I point out some grass which is super long. Now imagine having that for your entire back yard.




Future Plans
This summer we have 2 major projects and a couple minor projects planned.

• We need to regrade the font and back yards. Currently it's either flat or towards the building. If we can figure out a way to get a small tractor in the back, I think that'll be the easiest instead of us trying to do it with shovels and rakes.
• We need to paint the outside. This will be good to seal all the cracks and change the colors.
• Once we regrade the yards, Jessi wants to plant flowers and even start a garden.

So, that's the update on our duplex. It's been a lot of fun and we're learning a lot.